Road Trip to San Sebastian, Talpa de Allende, and Tequila

Safely back at the dock, we decided to plan a trip inland to see the differences in culture between the coast and the farm country here in Mexico.  Our good friends, Tom and Mary Ellen were brave enough to join us for the trek for three days.  First we hopped a bus to PV airport to get a rental car, a trusty Nissan.  Then, Leif bravely drove out into the busy streets and on to the highway towards San Sebastian.  The countryside became drier and elevation rose as we closed in on our first stop up in the pine trees.  San Sebastian is a small town previously known for silver mining and now as a tourist destination with a beautiful church and courtyard.  We walked around the cobble stone streets and found a great place for lunch, Comedor La Lupita, at which the tour buses also stopped.  We stuffed ourselves with typical Mexican fare, beans, rice, chicken mole, quesadilla, arracherra or something like that, and of course the obligatory Pacifico.  The town was small and we decided to drive on towards Talpa, which turned out to be having a celebration of one of the Saints in the Catholic church this week.  The town was the end of a trek made by thousands of Mexicans from their home towns to the church in Talpa.  After walking for often days on end, and sleeping alongside the roads, each group of pilgrims would parade through town with a mariachi band accompanying them to the church.  The bands would then double back and repeat with another arriving group.  It was very festive, and the music was really well played and excellent.  We stayed in a tidy hotel, run by a couple who were very friendly, offering us information and a shot of tequila.  The drive into this town was a bit of a trial, as the streets in the main area were all closed off, and the outskirt streets were one lane wide with walls and houses on each side, and cars parked everywhere.  Leif did a masterful job not hitting anything! 
   The next day, Tom and Mary Ellen did the pilgrim trek into town early while we were still sleeping.  We all met up for a quick bite to eat at a local restaurant, Tom ordered something that turned out to be some sort of meat that was indeterminable, and my egg appeared to be rubber, but, the pancakes were excellent and the coffee hot and tasty.  Off to Tequila! We drove through more pines and cactus towards the drop into the valley, where we passed a rooster ranch.  It was interesting to see the cement "A" frame huts for each bird.  Not sure if they were for fighting or breeding.  We headed through Moscota, a typical rural town filled with closed shops, restaurants and cowboys walking or riding along through town.  It was around noon, and many places are closed at this time for siesta.  We have found that the towns light up at night, and are very quiet during the day in most places.  As we were driving along this road, for miles and miles we saw pilgrims walking towards Talpa, or stopped at the many roadside stands put up for this pilgrimage.  It was amazing to see how far some had yet to travel.  As we neared Tequila, we were driving on the "Ruta de Tequila".  Sounded good to me, although I'm not a fan of tequila.  Arriving in town, we discovered we had a nail in one tire, so we were careful to park facing out and checked out where the local llanterias (tire repair) places were.  Incredibly there were many of them! :)  We parked near the Jose Cuervo distillery and walked into the town square, finding a very upscale hotel for $50.  After dropping off our packs, off to a tasting.  The Cuervo distillery was a good choice to tour, we were late in the day and the last tour.  Our tour included an explanation of how tequila is made, as well as several tastings of the stages of each process.  The first, 55 proof, was enough to take the skin off your throat, fortunately it was only a taste.  The tour ended with a three tier taste of 1800, clear, reposado and anejo.  Each was tasted with three different scents of the glass, starting at the bottom third, then the center, then the top.  It was interesting to smell the different flavors in each part of the glass.  I confess, tequila is still not to my liking, but the 1800 anejo wasn't bad, and very smooth.  I didn't run right out and buy any though. 
   After a great night's rest, we were off to Chacala, which is north of Banderas Bay along the coast.  It was a long drive through hills and finally jungle until we reached the sea, and our favorite, Pacifico cervezas and fish tacos.  We sat under a shaded palapa and enjoyed the peaceful view of beach, a lone sailboat anchored out and a few tourists quietly sipping cocktails.  Ahhh.  After a yummy lunch, we drove off to the real destination, Costco, in PV.  Down here, there is a huge amount of tuna in cans, however... it is dark meat mush in water, and not much in each can.  We have taken to calling it cat food.  At Costco however, there is delicious solid white meat tuna, and large cans even.  We bought a case, plus a case of chopped tomatoes and Pacifico beer.  It was a little piece of heaven, even though I love shopping at the tiendas and seeing their assortment of great local fare, which we also purchase.  Some things are just necessary on a long voyage when all the meat you can have is out of a can.  And, sorry, I don't like spam.
   We made it all the way round the local roads and out into the country and back again, and finally the police caught up with us!   Out of the blue, a policeman signaled us to pull over.  We were stunned, as Leif hadn't been speeding or switching lanes, in fact he'd been passed more often than not.  It was the typical scam, after threatening to keep his license, he asked for 500 pesos and gave Leif's license back.  This left a bad taste for the local police, but, it's the norm down here from what we hear.


Talpa de Allende



Agave "pineapples" ready for sale by size.

Driving the backroads of Talpa, don't plan on passing.



Pilgrims walk, goats ride!





Leif, Tom and Mary Ellen outsid our hotel in Tequila.



One group of pilgrims at the end of their journey, waiting to enter the Church.

   Ah, home to the little barco and our own bed, as stiff as it is.  Now we are waiting for a weather window and some fuel filters before heading north towards Matanchan Bay and Mazatlan.  On a side note, there were some local student dancers last night at the open air theatre doing the traditional Mexican dances in elaborate costumes.  They were great to see and very talented.   

Banderas Bay Regatta and tsunami



Where did dock 11 go???  Glad we left!



The Banderas Bay Regatta is aimed at cruisers here in the bay, with boat ratings reflecting all of the various gear attached to the boats to increase comfort while on the water.  We joined friends of ours, Judy and Torben on their Beneteau 42S7, Tivoli, the big sister of our boat for the racing event.  They invited some other guests from their home town who flew down to assist as crew.  We all had high hopes for beating the local favorite boat "Cirque", another 42S7 that is not a cruiser, but more set up for racing.  Our rating was friendly, but in the end, not friendly enough for us to overcome Cirque's challenge.  Day one showed light winds and a large field of yachts in 7 different classes.  We were class A, the big boats, and another notable yacht in our field was Kialoa 3, a 78' sloop.  The race was fun, even though we didn't strut our stuff very well and ended up a lousy 7th out of 9.  The crew doused their sorrows with beer and had a lengthy discussion on how to improve on the next race tomorrow.  We hopped a cab back to La Cruz for the night, ready to show our better efforts the next day.
   Well, as fate had it, we awoke to the horrible news of Japan's earthquake and subsequent tsunami warnings up and down the coast.  The vhf radio was alive with chatter of what to do, where to go, when it might be here, how big, how small, etc.  The port captains closed all the ports on the pacific side of Mexico, leaving folks wondering now what?  People were really at a quandary as to how to react.  The race committee finally decided to cancel races for the day, after initially just having a delay in start times.  Problem was, most of the crew on the racing yachts had their own boats to worry about in various marinas, leaving the racers without crew.  This had been our decision as well, better to take care of Honcho than go and race and be worried all day.  When we heard that Santa Cruz was hit hard, we decided to sail out into the deeper water of the bay, over 200', and get some chores done on the boat like making water as we were low.
   At 1:30p.m. the surge hit, and the marinas were all mentioning the currents running in and out at about 10+ knots and the rise in water to 6' or so.  This kept up all day, in and out.  The ports stayed closed all day, so most boats anchored off La Cruz in the only real anchorage in Banderas Bay.  Finally Nuevo Vallarta opened up after dark, but with warnings of high surge continuing and stiff currents swirling inside.  La Cruz was going to open, so we upped anchor and motored over to get in quickly ahead of the rush.  This ended up being a false alarm, so out we went back to the anchorage to try to find a little spot for our barco.  The night passed with frequent surges causing rolling and tugging at the anchor, but no problems.  As the sun rose, we saw other boats heading into the marina, so we upped anchor once again and jumped in line.  We rounded the jetty to find the dock on which we had been tied was not all there, two large slips were in tangles, upside down and sideways, and missing altogether.  Honcho pulled in and tied up and we went to inspect the damage to the end of our dock.  The surge had apparently caused the fingers to flip with the stress of current sideways and then broke in half.  I was really glad to have left, as the strain on our keel would not have been a good thing, possibly causing more of the dock to give way. 
   So, after a restless night, and busy morning, we hopped back into a cab, and headed for day three of the races!  We arrived to find our friends all safe and ready to go.  Day three brought more wind, which was to our advantage.  Torben steered the boat into a great position for our start and off we went.  The course was more to our liking as well with some tactical elements to it, allowing us chances to outwit our opponents.  I forgot to mention that on day one, Kialoa tore their jib from leach to luff, and they apparently had no spare, so they were out of competition.  We ended up finishing 2nd in corrected time for this race and the crew was very pleased with the day's performance.  We all felt that if we had sailed three races instead of two, we'd have been in the trophy presentation.  But alas, we ended up 4th overall, not a bad improvement. 


Tivoli's Crew:   Top row: L-R, Lisa, Sylvia, Judy, Lynn; Bottom row: Tom, Phil, Torben, Howard, Leif 




Wrong boat, wrong direction!



Tom, Lynn, Judy and Torben returning from the practice run?

The start... and they're off...

   I was spinnaker grinder and rail meat each day, and after all of the excitement, I was exhausted and glad to return to Honcho for some rest.  We are looking forward to a trip inland to San Sebastian and Tequila tomorrow for a couple of days off the water.

Chamela to La Cruz, once again!

In Chamela, we met up with our friends Tom and MaryEllen on Equinox once again.  They were headed in our direction, towards La Cruz, and we all decided to stick together during the passage around Cabo Corrientes.  This passage north is talked about endlessly on the morning nets, as it can be extremely rough, with high winds of 20+ and large swells.  I thought, no big deal, we have 20+ winds all the time in Long Beach, and how bad can a 6' swell be?  Anyway, we left at 6 p.m. headed for a night sail that should be calmer than afternoon if the wind decided to pick up.  The swell immediately filled in as we rounded the point at Chamela headed for the ocean, but the wind stayed calm (5-10) until around midnight when it picked up to maybe 15 knots.  Our passage wasn't too bad, but the seas were pounding into the bow, sending green water over the bow into the dodger, and lifting our bow into the air, only to drop into the following trough with a bang.  Not exactly sleepworthy.  I tried to sleep when off watch, but the noise and feeling of weightlessness as the boat dropped was a bit much. 

La Cruz beach

   We rounded Cabo Corrientes around 7 a.m. and then things smoothed out inside the Banderas Bay, it felt good to be home.  This place is a jumping off point for many cruisers, south to the Marquesas or El Salvador, out to the Pacific islands, or northward back into the Sea of Cortez, so, many, many boats are grouped here.  We pulled into the anchorage around noon, and the wind picked up to 20 knots just as we wanted to anchor, making it a bit more fun.  But, after dropping the hook, we both took a long nap to catch up on lost sleep.  Usually this is all I need to recoup after an overnighter, but this time, it was two days before I felt more normal.  The bashing was harder than I had expected, and fortunately harder than we'll see in the future.  Some folks we talked to had 20+ winds and the waves were breaking, we hit the right weather window.
   So, here we are, back in Marina Nayarit, in La Cruz, enjoying a slip, dock water, easy access to daily walking, and Philo's restaurant and bar.  When we are in the marina, life speeds up and we are constantly involved in social events, happy hour here, dinner there, listening to the live bands at Ana Banana's or Philo's.  Leif also is tuning the rig for the boat he's crewing on in the races.  Then there's the Sunday market in the square, and trips to the Mega for supplies of canned foods.  We also went to Nuevo Vallarta, and Puerto Vallarta yacht club to have lunch and pick up regatta tee shirts.  For being at our leisure, life is extremely busy.  I can't figure out how I managed to fit in "working" into this scheme. 
   In two weeks we will leave for points north, leaving our favorite area, perhaps for a new favorite area.  I hear the water is clearer in the Sea, and we are looking forward to some swimming off the boat. 

Croc swimming in Marina Ixtapa

25 lb. Jack Crevalle, Manzanillo.

Cocodrillos "in their natural habitat", Ixtapa

Sailfish sculpture in Manzanillo

Equinox on passage to La Cruz



Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo

Arriving at Marina Ixtapa, the water temperature was up to 80.6, which we could determine from our instruments on board.  The air was also warmer and more humid, were we finally in the tropics?  It was tempting to jump into the water nearby the boat, but alas, the signs on the docks say "Cocodrilos, no nadar."  Yeah, right, we haven't seen one yet when this has been mentioned, but still didn't take the chance. 
  We hadn't been in a marina for around three weeks and were so looking forward to nice long, hot showers actually standing up in a real live shower stall.  Foiled once again, the water was quite chilly for the first three days making showers a challenge instead of relaxing.  Eventually I did get one day of a real hot shower, but then it departed.  Strange how that can happen. 
   Our trip here was actually in honor of a friend's 50th birthday, which was to be celebrated in Zihuatanejo, just around the corner in a nearby bay.  Friends of Judy flocked from all over, including San Francisco and Denmark to assist with her turning of a half century.  We felt honored to be invited, as we had just met them in La Cruz, and we'd do our best to help out during the week long festivities.  Our dinghy helped ferry folks from the beach to the boats for Hobie races on one day.  It was a wet affair, with our little dinghy getting nearly swamped as we took off through two foot waves on the beach with four adults on board.  The races were supposed to be all in fun, with a race course set around some nearby boats, and the start line between Honcho and Tivoli, Judy and Torben's boat.  They began with a very official three minute countdown, and horn blast, then off they went, some backwards through the line again as some folks had difficulty with sailing a catamaran.  They react differently than mono hulls and don't respond when tacking nearly as fast.  We did a major fauxpas by leading against the birthday girl when we were matched against her.  She won the start with a very superior dip start, but fell behind when the wind didn't fill in as expected.  Oh well, Leif just can't throw a race, it's not in his blood, and we got some good wind shifts.  The final event was a beautifully presented happy hour followed by dinner and dancing to the live band around the pool at their hotel.  A toast/roast of Judy was included and family and friends did their best to share her most amusing antics from the past.  After that, Leif and I tore up the dance floor, bid Judy and Torben adieu and taxied back to our barco. 
   Mark and Anne from San Francisco, friends of Leif, who had also joined Judy's celebration, decided to join us for a trip to Isla Ixtapa for the day.  We motored over to the little island, and swam in the warm water, Leif snorkeled the bottom and cleaned the speed indicator which hadn't been working too well.  Then all dinghied in for lunch and a very humorous pina colada, served in a pineapple, with bougainvillea for hair. 
   The next day it was time to leave for the north, this being our farthest point south on this trip.  That fact made this a little bit sad, knowing that from now on we were basically heading home.  We got diesel, and I ran over to pay our fees at the marina office, when, aha! a large crocodile (10'+) swam under the bridge and headed into the marina, swimming under boats and through the fairways.  Luckily I had my trusty camera and captured the moment.  So, at 6:45 p.m. we were off for an overnight sail/motor to Caleta de Campos which is up the coast about 75 miles.
   We arrived at Caleta de Campos the next morning around 6a.m. and slowed down and waited for the sun to rise so we could make a safe entrance to the bay.  The swell was rather large, breaking at about 6' onshore and we were probably 100 yards offshore which made it not too comfortable.  We were going to spend the night, but after a long morning nap to catch up on sleep, we decided to move on as the swell seemed to be picking up.  We motored out and headed north once again overnight.  The first night we sailed quite a bit, and the wind was up and just off the nose, so we tacked our way through the ships, of which there were many according to Leif.  It was my turn to be off watch, but sleeping was not happening as each time he tacked I rolled from one side of the bunk to the other, and the crashing of the hull was quite loud.  So, eventually we dropped the jib and put on the engine for an easier passage.  The second night, the wind was light, and we had to motor anyway, so a more peaceful night.  We awoke to see many sea turtles floating with birds sitting on their backs.  At first I thought they were dead, but as we came close they flipped their fins and dove down, leaving the birds to fly off.  We also caught our first mahi mahi, a little guy around 8 lbs, which we released.  My most memorable moment came when I was up on the bow in calm waters as we motored along, and voila! a huge marlin or sailfish 8' plus, swam under our boat.  So cool, black with stripes, it slowly wove it's way under us and off.  I couldn't believe I saw it.  Glad it didn't bite our lure as it was way too big to get on our boat.


Mark and Anne cooling off at Isla Ixtapa




Our new friend, the Pina Colada man!




Mark and Anne joining us for a cool one.



Finally, a croc inside the marina at Ixtapa



Cocodrillo in it's "natural state"




Our little mahi mahi, that we released

    We have spent three days in Las Hadas, and are now ready to depart once again for a trip northward.  While we were here we took a cab to the main city of Manzanillo and the port area.  There was a huge statue of a sailfish, which defines the area.  Apparently this area is known for their sailfish fishing.  So, it wasn't such a surprise that I saw one swim under us.  Diesel fuel is difficult to get in some areas, like here in Las Hadas where the fuel dock is open during the mid-day but not early or late.  This threw a kink in our plans of leaving at crack of dawn as we needed fuel prior to leaving.  So, now we'll deflate the dinghy and get fuel when we can and then leave for ?? later today.

Manzanillo to Zihuatanejo



Judy's 50th dinner party




Launching the transport boat, our little dinghy.

 Las Hadas is in Manzanillo, and is a cute little area with many beautiful hotels, one in particular has a Moorish design and is stunning with many turrets or towers.  We anchored out in the little bay with about 20 others, instead of the marina, and dinghied in to shore.  The Las Hadas resort has a swim up bar at it's pool, finally I get to swim in one, as our fee to use the dinghy dock includes pool usage.  Alas, the pool was quite cold, so we swam, but not long, with no bar usage, and hiked all around the local area.  We hope to stop for a longer stay upon our trip back northward.  Once again we hiked into town to provision and then hopped in a cab back to the boat.  I have never used taxi's so much in my life, and after shopping for groceries they come in very handy.  The fare is usually around $5. or $6 one way, which helps with getting our fresh produce back in one piece.  The buses are fun and crowded, so carrying loads of groceries isn't a popular thing to do. 
   Our friends, Tom and MaryEllen on their boat Equinox were also anchored in the bay.  We spent some fun times with them, shopping, and finishing our game of Mexican Train that had been started in La Cruz.  They are staying in Las Hadas for awhile then heading back north from there.  We hope to catch up with them again as they're good friends and such fun to be with. 
   We left Manzanillo at around 4 p.m. bound for Zihuatanejo on Feb. 10th.  The wind was at 20 knots, and we had the main sail up and no jib.  As we turned the corner of the bay we hoisted the jib and sailed downwind for hours until the wind eventually died down, and we turned on the "iron jib".  We spent two nights, and one day at sea, in lovely conditions, trolling for awhile, and not catching anything.  This was fine as I really didn't want to clean any fish during this trip.  We did catch one jack crevalle on an earlier trip, but let it go after a good fight. 

Tom and MaryEllen on their way to Equinox.

View of Las Hadas bay, & HonchoSail from Manzanillo

   We held 3 hour watches again, with Leif doing most of the work during his watches, and me maintaining our course and sail trim that he set up.  There were several small anchorages that we passed, but we needed to move along towards our destination for Judy's 50th birthday party.  Passing Lazaro Cardenas at night was not my favorite event, as it's one of the west coast's largest ports for cargo ships.  It was fairly busy, with ships anchored out as well as arriving and leaving, creating an interesting challenge to sail through.  I wimped out and let Leif do the driving as I couldn't figure out what was moving and what wasn't and which were lights onshore and, well you can see my frustration.  He sailed through with no trouble at all while I slept.  Then, after we were safely away from there, I got up and stood my watch.  We continued on until around 6 a.m. when we arrived at the entrance to Ixtapa Marina, and so we motored up the coast and down the coast until daylight, which here is around 7:30.  It's not prudent to enter an unknown anchorage or marina in the dark, so we usually don't.  This marina has an interesting entrance, with the swell travelling through it, and a shallow depth, it can be a bit dangerous.  Boats with 7' of draft are not advised to enter, and we have 6', so it's eye opening when the depth gauge says 3' under our keel, and a swell has pushed us like a surfboard towards the shore.  Alas, we made it, called the harbor master and dove into our slip quickly, ran up to check in and back to the boat for a well deserved nap prior to evening festivities.  After all, the birthday party did begin the previous night and we needed to catch up.

Tenecatita onward to Barra de Navidad Laguna

We left Tenecatita Thursday morning around 10 a.m., Feb. 3rd,  bound for Barra de Navidad, about 14 miles away by boat.  The winds were light and swell was running about 4'; but while we were motoring it  rolled us as we trundled along.  The wind filled in and it got a bit rougher, and eventually there were "sheep on the meadow" as we say, when we arrived at Barra around 2:00 p.m.  The entrance is tricky as it is quite shallow, curvy and the seas were entering with us, making it hard to steer.  There are way points given in our guide, and they were spot on as we arrived in the shallow lagoon without going aground as many others do.  Without the way points, one would definitely go off course and find the mud.  Our little anchor area had 2.6' of water under our keel at low tide, and that was the deeper area.  I hate to think if we had more than 6' of draft as do many boats.
   One of the lovely benefits of this anchorage is "El Horno Frances, or The French Baker" who brings fresh French pastries each morning by dinghy to all the yates in the area.  OK Monique, he is actually from Bordeaux, and does his best with what is available here, but it's not France.  The baguettes are delicious, and his Danish are wonderful, and his tarte du pomme is WAY better than the one that we attempted in Bar le Duc.  His will not be thrown into the river as ours was. :)
   We took the local bus into Melaque, the town across the bay, to see what it had to offer.  It was bustling with locals and tourists all shopping for the early bargains at the tiendas.  The Hawaii Store is a tienda that carries American foods, and we found some treasures to bring back to the boat, Kirkland tuna, Crackets ( just like Ritz), and some more wine.  We have discovered that this life of yachting is VERY social, and we are socializing daily either on our boat or someone elses.  This requires a never ending supply of wine, beer and appetizers or snack foods.  I haven't exactly been the most social person in the past, but now I am learning to be a more gracious hostess and attendee.  One never arrives without food and drink, and one always invites anyone in a dinghy over to chat.  Leif is quite the socialite, which I didn't know.


Frigate birds, waiting for dinner at the local fish pen.





Barra de Navidad, ocean, bay and town.  We watched the super bowl here in a local bar with other yates and locals.





View from the Grand Bay Hotel, towards our barco in the lagoon.



   Barra is a lush, green area, has more bugs than Tenecatita, and is overlooked by a beautiful hotel, The Grand Bay Hotel.  I felt a bit like the poor cousin as we motored by, but we are rich with experiences in our little barco.    

Tenecatita Sunset

One more amazing sunset in Tenecatita

We enjoyed Tenecatita sunsets each night, as the clouds filled in and brought us some shade during the day.  Tenecatita is a beautiful bay, with several anchorage areas depending upon where the wind and swell are directed.  We chose the inner-most area, with about 20 other boats.  It was a lovely sand beach for miles in an arc, travelling from our little dinghy landing area around to La Manzanilla, a very cute town on the other side.  We heard of a "jungle cruise" that is possible in your own dinghy, up the local river to an area that used to have palapas for refreshment afterwards.  The local landlord decided to bulldoze the palapas and kick out the owners by gunpoint recently, so we were a little hesitant to go all the way to the finish.  As it turned out, the jungle cruise was truly jungle-like, with overhanging mangroves, lots of birds, and several iguanas.  No cocodrilos though, as promised.  We arrived at the final pond area and there were some guards there to keep us from landing, so we left the way we came. 



Iguana, just prior to its jumping into the water right next to me!



   La Manzanilla is a lot like Laguna Beach in Calif., cute homes built on cliffs, painted bright colors, and many gringos.  Lots of Canadians call this home apparently, and there is a great deal of wealth here.  We arrived by dinghy, of course, and did an ok beach landing, dragging our dinghy up onto the beach by the wheels on the stern.  They've come in very handy lately, even if they do look very strange sticking up in the air while we speed around.  We walked the hard sand beach, and had some delicious grilled Italian veggies at a local restaurant, then back to the dinghy.  Our exit was not as dry as our landing. Although we launched through the surf nicely, it was with a bit of pain kicking underwater rocks and getting splashed by waves.  The trip back across the bay was a windy one, with our tiny ship getting tossed.  We sang the Gilligan's Island song and hoped for the best.  Of course the captain got us there safely.  I finally took a well deserved hot shower on board, and felt like a new woman.  We rested up that night as we were looking towards leaving for Barra de Navidad in the morning.          

Welcome to Tenecatita

Bright and early this morning (8:30 ish) we were welcomed to Tenecatita by the Mexican Navy.  I was at the computer when I heard a dinghy motoring by.  Looking out the port, I saw a dinghy full of men with machine guns heading our way and waving.  Not to be unneighborly, I waved back and they instantly came over, tied up to our stern and all 5 boarded us, all with machine guns.  They inspected our paperwork, wrote down a myriad of details and took pictures of our radios.  I have no idea about the radios, but thankfully Leif carried on a pleasant conversation with them and they were equally pleasant to us.  In spite of the weapons, they were courteous and efficient, and afterwards we wished each other good day and off they went to the next boat.  I have to say it was a little nerve wracking to have them on board.  This was the second time we have talked with the Mexican Navy, the other was in Bahia Santa Maria and they stayed on their launch with the barbette mounted machine gun pointed at our boat.  They were polite and pleasant as well.  I have to say that all the hoopla about Mexican authorities being unpleasant has not been the case for us so far.  They have been great to deal with, much more friendly than any other countries that we dealt with.  That was evident on our return from Panama, as the smiles returned to the faces of the people with whom we spoke. 

Chamela Bay and Isla Cocinas with Honcho